Rain, Rain, You're Here To Stay

What had been an abysmally dry winter is so no longer. For the past week we have experienced and almost continual outpouring of rain. Perhaps what's even better is the fact that it should continue to rain well through Sunday afternoon. There is something about just sitting back on a couch, wrapped in a warm blanket with a glass of hot tea in hand, watching the droplets dash themselves against the windowpanes. A sense of utter peace settles over one. We feel content and perfectly comfortable spending the entire day indoors, going nowhere. Rain has the ability to make us slow down our frantic pace of life and sit back and take a breather. Perhaps that it one reason of why I so enjoy it when it rains.

Ah, I see I truly am born in the wrong century. It is times like these---when the house is dark with nothing but the fire to light the rooms and calm and soothing music ("rain" music) is playing---when I am seized with a desire to put on a dress and either bake some culinary delight or sit down and scratch out a few paragraphs of my story on yellowed paper with a quill pen. (I have no idea where one can even find a quill pen these days; it has always been a great ambition of mine to learn how to make my own pen and ink. How gloriously old-fashioned that sounds!)

Now, for some exciting news. My mother and I went to an old bookstore and found a treasure: eight books written by Louisa May Alcott with sweet, pale green binding and ink illustrations. The best part? We only paid $24 for them all! I am excessively pleased with this find. Nothing is better than reading an old book, except for reading an old book with tea and a scone.

Rain always puts me in a bookish mood. It never fails. Perhaps that would explain why I just requested two books from the library ("The Railway Children" and "The Story of the Treasure-Seekers", both of them by E. Nesbit). They have been favorites of mine since I heard them read aloud in fourth or fifth grade. (They also happen to be set in England in the 1900s about the escapades of the children trying to win a fortune for their family.) So here I blissfully sit, mug of tea beside me, listening to the patter of the rain about me and waiting for that mechanical call from the library.

I love rainy days!